Cougars are small, but mighty

Mike Sconsa termed the mighty-mite Cascade High School girls basketball team as "perfectly imperfect."

"We don't shoot the ball that well, and this is the smallest team I've ever coached," Sconsa said.

There are no imperfections, no blemishes, on the bottom line, though.

A charter member of the new River Valley Conference, the Class 2A second-rated Cougars have run up a 16-0 record and have all but wrapped up the North Division title.

"The highest praise I can have about this team is that they're feisty, aggressive competitors," Sconsa said.

They have to be, because the Cougars surely are one of the state's most vertically challenged outfits. The starting lineup consists of 5-foot-3, 5-3 and 5-4 on the perimeter, 5-8 and 5-9 inside.

"We press more this year than we have in the past, because we have to," Sconsa said. "We can't just hunker down and stand in a zone and let teams throw over the top of us. We have to speed the game up."

Fortunately, there's a little speed in Cascade, which has built a girls' track powerhouse.

Four-sport senior Abbey Meyer, who stands 5-3 (maybe), is the Cougars' chief irritant, posting 12.5 points, 3.3 assists and 4.4 steals per game. Carolyn Trumm adds 8.0 points and a team-high 4.7 rebounds per game.

Sconsa said despite the team's lack of size, the Cougars generally are competitive on the boards.

"If we can stay within 4 or 5 rebounds a game, I consider that a win," he said. "We've had a few games in which we've outrebounded our opponent."

Defense is a constant at Cascade, which rode its stinginess to the 3A state semifinals last year. The Cougars are yielding 29.5 points per game, which ranks No. 5 in the state in all classes.

Cascade was a perennial contender in the Tri-Rivers Conference before getting moved in a state-mandated shuffle. So far, it's been a good new home.

"It's been awesome," Sconsa said. "We're still learning about our new opponents, but to go Camanche or Northeast or Bellevue on a given night, I feel like we'll be battle-tested for (regionals)."

FRANKLIN SURPASSES 1,000

Cedar Rapids Washington's Dani Franklin eclipsed the 1,000-point plateau in the Warriors' win over Marshalltown on Saturday.

Franklin sent her career total to 1,036 on Tuesday.

The Valparaiso University recruit scored 274 points (12.5 per game) as a sophomore, 409 (17.0 ppg) as a junior and has 355 (22.2 ppg) through 16 games this season.

MAKING UP FOR LOST TIME

Allison Platte scored 21 points -- 15 in the first half -- of Mount Vernon's 67-54 win over Clear Creek Amana on Tuesday.

Platte joined the lineup in early January; she missed the first eight games while finishing rehab on a torn ACL. Since her return, the junior has averaged a team-high 10.3 points per game.

The Mustangs (9-6) have won five of seven games since Platte's arrival.

BACKLOADED SCHEDULES

This winter's variety of snow-outs, ice-outs and cold-outs has produced a bevy of postponements, which now leads to a glut of games to be played in the next two weeks as the regular season winds down.North Fayette Valley, South Tama and Waukon still have eight games to play. A dozen other area teams -- most in northeast Iowa -- have seven to go.